Teatime for the Chipping Norton set

At the start of May, we spent a warm sunny day at the Kingham Plough Market fair and I was delighted to see, for the first time, an intriguing new business called The Chipping Norton Tea Set. I was even happier when I saw that this is the idea of a friend, Victoria Wills, who I'd not seen for ages but who has a clear idea of what she would like to achieve.
Vicky had the idea of bringing back the vintage tea party, but using her artistic flair and feminine touches, she applies this to making every party from a children's noisy, sticky tea party injected with fun to a corporate affair being much more relaxed and enjoyable.
We got chatting, and it immediately became clear that we have the opportunity to come up with some "fruity" ways of making Vicky's tea parties stand out from the crowd. Already, she has managed to find some beautiful china and great recipe ideas; with the occasional inclusion of some of our fruity Womersley vinegars and chutneys, Vicky has cleverly found a way of raising her tea party idea to a new level, even using our Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender as a mystery cupcake ingredient to win this prize of a box of twelve Lemon and Chocolate cakes:

Vicky has written a few words for us here:

"The idea for The Chipping Norton Tea-Set came from my daughter, she wanted a tea party for her 18th birthday, so I organised the whole event and thoroughly enjoyed it. Many friends and family suggested that I should do it as a business so I took the bull by the horns.... 
We have gone from strength to strength with both social and corporate tea parties under our belts, as well as children's cake decorating parties, providing cupcakes and cakepops for birthdays, weddings, hen do's etc. We use only the best, freshest ingredients in our menus and we have a firm favourite in the chutneys from Womersley Foods. We like to experiment with our cupcake flavours and are currently trying out Lavender cupcakes with a drizzle topping made with Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender dressing.  We were asked to provide cupcakes for The Chipping Norton Literary Festival and are mid-organisation of The Diamond Jubilee Tea Dance Party. And I am really excited to have been included in the BBC3 "Be Your Own Boss" programme!"
 

It looks like Vicky has well and truly grabbed the horns of that bull... 

We look forward to coming up with more recipes with Vicky so do look out for some particularly fruity cupcakes, all you Chipping Norton tea set. For now, these are some of Vicky's beautifully presented scones and cakes:

Spring Salad Recipe with Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper

You may have noticed that we don't publish that much in the way of salad recipes on here. Of course, you can use all of our vinegars on your salad, according to what style and flavour you are after. For instance, the Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender is great when you want a sour and fragrant, Oriental feel. The excellent deli of the Year regional winner in Leeds, Haley & Clifford have been using this for many months on their in-house salads, to the delight of their many loyal visitors. And our 2011 Gold** Taste Award Winner, Golden Raspberry & Apache Chilli is perfect for a sweet and heat treat. But, for many, the most popular is our Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper.

My father, Martin, was certainly in a particularly inventive mood when he devised this recipe. He loved his Gin and Tonic with a hefty wedge of lemon; those unfamiliar with his proportions would soon find out that these were certainly NOT "Tonic and Gin!" Another great love of his was the propagation of hundreds of varieties of Basil. In Summer, the poly tunnels in the kitchen garden at our home in Womersley bursted with the aromas of this huge variety, from Purple Ruffles Basil to Cinnamon Basil and on and on.... So, combined with his aromatherapy skills, it was with some alacrity that he set about combining lemon with basil and Juniper as well as some bay leaf. With all the buckets lined up, as usual, he eventually arrived at the very recipe we use to this day.

The citrus is so good at bringing out delicate flavours in seafood and fruit dishes, but it is as a salad dressing that it really shines. Those botanical herbal flavours mix well with the Juniper to produce a dressing of such freshness and depth that they really bring a salad to life. So I was delighted a little while ago to receive this beautiful recipe for a mixed salad including my personal favourite, Pine Nuts, and dressed with our Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper from Tessa Stuart.

SPRING INTO AN ENTHUSED WOMERSLEY SALAD

by Tessa Stuart

The Lemon, Basil, Bay and Juniper Vinegar dressing in this recipe gives the salad a wonderfully citrus zing!

INGREDIENTS:

Salad leaves
1 bag of Mixed rocket and leaf salad leaves
¼ of a cucumber, thinly sliced
1 punnet of Pea Shoots
1 carrot peeled and cut into thin strips and thinly shredded.
Sprinkle of Roasted Pine Nuts

Dressing for the salad
10 ml Womersley Lemon, basil, bay & Juniper vinegar dressing
20 ml Rapeseed oil
Sprinkle of Maldon salt


METHOD:
Lightly roast Pine Nuts in the oven until golden brown.
Mix ingredients well together for the salad leaves to get lightly tossed in the dressing.
Sprinkle Pine Nuts over the top and serve

If you would like to buy some of our Lemon, Basil, Bay & Juniper to give Tessa's recipe a go, check your nearest stockist here, visit our Where to Buy page or give us a call and we will send you some: 01132 865 855.

STOP PRESS: SHOWS UPDATE

Malton Food Lovers Festival 
Saturday-Sunday19th-20th May 

For the first time ever, we are really thrilled to be exhibiting at the prestigious Malton festival, just north of York. Amongst the many chefs being presented by Elaine Lemm in the cookery theatres this year are Antonio Carluccio, Tom Parker Bowles, Matthew Fort, James Mackenzie, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass Inn, Rob Green, award-winning National Seafood Chef of the Year at Green’s of Whitby; Robert Ramsden of Deli Fresh, Stephanie Moon, chef consultant at Rudding Park and recently seen on BBC's Great British Menu.
Also, a bonus for us as we have this year's Masterchef finalist, Tom Rennolds, doing a demonstration on our stand on Sunday- one not to miss!

You can get tickets online or on the day.



Wild Thyme Restaurant Food Festival, Chipping Norton
Sunday 27th May 11am-5pm

After enjoying a very busy day in Chipping Norton Town Hall last year, I am delighted that we have been invited back to my home town food festival at the end of the month. With Prue Leith as patron and, I am sure, a good turnout of "The Chipping Norton Set," this promises to be a vibrant day.
We are also fortunate enough to have Masterchef 2011's James Perry doing a cookery demonstration with our Cherry Vinegar as a macerator!

Tickets for this are only £3.00 on the door and FREE for under 14s.


BBC Good Food Show Summer, N.E.C. Birmingham
Wednesday-Sunday 13th-17th June 9am-6pm

It has been a few years since we last did the Summer show but since our fruity vinegars and dressings are the perfect match for your Summer salads and marinades for the BBQ, it seemed time we should return.
Being Diamond Jubilee year, we will surely be celebrating all that is Great about Britain at the show, too, including the food we produce in this country, which just keeps getting better and better. Check back here for updates soon on our plans for the show and of course we will have a good supply of our new and vibrant chutneys for you.
Tickets are available online.

CHUTNEYS!

After a break of a couple of years, we are now doing chutneys again and these are the beauties we have for you:

Caramelised Red Onion Marmalade

Superb ingredient for many dishes including soups, stews, wonderful 
as a cheese or meat accompaniment. 
 Makes a humble sandwich taste just amazing!

 

Beetroot, Orange & Stem Ginger Chutney

A wonderful relish full of flavour and perfect with a cheese board, 
posh Ploughman’s or speciality breads.  
The savoury, sweet & caramel flavours all work well together in this sticky, scrummy chutney.

 

Tomato and Chilli Chutney

The perfect combination to liven up your sandwich or cheese board, 
delicious with cold meats too.

 

Red Pepper & Chilli Jam

Great ingredient to give a little kick!
 Sweet red peppers balanced with chillies for a lovely jewel coloured relish. 
Amazing as a dip or just about anything!

If you'd like to order some, do call or email Wendy or Sue 

who will be happy to send you some:

01132 865 855

sales@womersleyfoods.co.uk